George Johnstone Stoney

George Johnstone Stoney, (born Feb. 15, 1826, Oakley Park, King’s County, Ire.—died July 5, 1911, London, Eng.), physicist who introduced the term electron for the fundamental unit of electricity.

In 1848 Stoney became assistant to the astronomer William Parsons Rosse, who secured for him a professorship in natural philosophy (natural science) at Queen’s College, Galway (1852). In 1857 he became secretary of the Queen’s University, Dublin.

From his work on molecular physics and kinetic theory of gases, he estimated the number of molecules in a volume of gas under standard conditions. Though his method for estimating the value of the electronic charge was sound (1874), his result was incorrect because of an erroneous idea of the number of atoms in a gram of hydrogen. Stoney also proposed explanations for the escape of hydrogen and helium from the field of Earth’s gravity and the absence of atmospheres on moons.